"No two people see the external world in exactly the same way. To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is -- in other words, not a thing, but a think." - Penelope Fitzgerald

Oct 22, 2016

{Fiction} The Fall - Chapter 1: "The Event"

Indra finally
caught the invading craft on his radar and sped after it. Clearly the
vessel had been hiding in the mountainous forests of the Southern
Continent.

He began to scan
the area the alien craft had suddenly vanished into and immediately
realized he was dealing with a hidden base. Time to call in the
cavalry.

Indra was on a scouting mission on
Terra (the 3rd planet of the system) for Tarran High
Command (the true one government of the 4th planet in the
system) when he noticed the alien vessel emerge from the ocean and
speed across the horizon at incredible speeds. At the time he was
settled in a hidden spot in the nearby forest quite by accident or he
would never have noticed “the event” as he was beginning to refer
to the experience of watching a glowing craft emerge from the ocean.
He had been chasing it for almost 15 minutes, in stealth mode, when
he realized he was dealing with a ship of better technology than his.

Indra reached for the com. “Dheus,
buddy, you there?”

Silence.

“Dheus. I have an strange craft
roaming around in a forest in the Lemurian continent. If we can
bring it in alive and well and in one piece there may be some glory
in it for us”

“Reading you loud and clear buddy.
Which part of Lemu we talking about here?”

“I'm sending you the coordinates now.
Anyone else in the area.?”

“Perk is up here somewhere. I can
summon him. See you in 15 minutes.”

“Oh, one more thing. Can you guys
stay in stealth mode please. I want this to be a surprise”

“Sure thing boss”

Dheus and Perk must have been shaking
down the locals somewhere nearby, Indra mused. Picking on the locals
of this planet had become something of a pastime of the Tarran
Rangers Corp. A new creation of the Tarran High Command and The
Monarchy charged with the task of patrolling the area around the two
inhabited planets of Terra and Tara and making sure Tarans kept its
military and territorial superiority. This meant everything from
dealing with political dignitaries of the newly emerging advanced
civilizations, clearly influenced by Tara, to chasing down common
criminals who thought escaping Tara to Terra and hiding out there was
a good option to escape justice.

That's what Indra had decided to say.
That this was a regular chase after a particularly adept criminal. If
he said he thought this was an alien craft he would probably get
laughed at.

****

When Dhues and Perk arrived 35 minutes
later Indra was parked on a grassy hill overlooking a fishing village
next to a chain of mountains that Indra suspected to be the location
of the craft's hideout.

Dheus and Perk parked their vehicles
next to his and joined him on the hill slope. They smelt of beer, a
local alcoholic beverage, so they had definitely been cavorting with
the locals.

Most of the locals saw the Rangers or
indeed, anyone from the planet Tarra, as “Gods”. The fact that the
reduced Tarran gravity allowed Tarrans to grow larger than the average
Terran or that the cooler environment had made them white skinned and light haired
compared to their, mostly, dark skinned neighbors, worked in their
favor as it made the locals think the Tarrans had stepped out of the
Sun like some sort of Sun God. Being seen as a Sun God made hunting
down criminals particularly easy. The fact that all Rangers carried a
standard issue defense rod known as a stick which could fire
electrical bolts across large distances, paralyzing or killing their
targets, jut added to their Godlike mystique.

Indra was the largest of the group, at
6 feet 8 inches. Dheus the best looking but shortest at just 6 feet
tall and Perk the goofiest looking with his lanky body at 6 feet 6
inches. They all had long blonde hair in a pony tail as was the
fashion of the time and blue eyes. Standard everyday Tarran males.
There was almost no one even close to this tall or brightly colored
in the entire civilized regions of Terra, only the red-haired Nawans
came close and they didn't like to mingle with the other locals and
were very secretive of their appearance. Which the Rangers were
thankful for as pretending to be Gods just made their job easier. Not
to mention more fun.

“So what do you want us to do”
Dheus asked he approached.

Just then the craft shot out from a
cave in the mountain overlooking the fishing village and sped
southwards across the ocean.

“Get that thing” Indra yelled as he
ran to his ship.

Dhues was looking at it shocked while
Perk was taking a picture of the craft like he was some sort of
tourist. Just for a second. Then they ran to their ships and followed
Indra out over the water.

“Tara 1 this is Indra can you track a
vessel heading south over the southern ocean for me. Code 417.”

“Acknowledged Captain. Acquiring
signal”

Indra had sent the request over the
standard Ranger frequency so Dhues, Perk and the rest of the Ranger
corp in range had heard what Indra had said and were probably
connecting to their own satellite links to the Tarran High Commands
signal being sent through Ranger viewing channels.“OK, so what's
going on?” Perk asked.

“I think I spotted an alien craft”

“A UFO? You called us in for a UFO”

“You saw it, what do you think?”

“It could be an experimental vehicle
from Tarran High Command”

“Than why is it running and why is
Tarran High Command tracking it for us through their satellites?”

“Geez. This is bad isn't it?” No
one responded Dheus' comment as a satellite feed connected.

The UFO was now clearly displayed
across the Rangers viewing screen as they followed the craft to the
Southern most continent of ice. It was so far ahead and moving so
fast that it clearly was going to get where it was going without any
Ranger interference even if they had wanted to interfere. If only he
had thought of having one of the other Rangers take high orbit and
track the craft from there. Indra thought. He didn't like being
caught by surprise without a hidden tactic ready to deploy. Well, the
past was the past. This vehicle had to be caught. He was having a
very bad feeling about this. He was tapped into High Command through
his wife and had heard nothing of such a vehicle which could mean
that the rumors of alien spaceships from the locals were true. If the
stories were true then Tara could be in very real danger. They needed
Intel.

“Stay low. We don't want the craft to
detect us. Keep com silence. Lets see where it takes us.”

“Why comm silence”

“Because we don't know what
capabilities the craft has”

“Whatever, you just want some quite
time. OK shutting up now”

It took 3 hours to catch up to where
the UFO disappeared. With the satellite tracking the vessel they had
the coordinates of its disappearance down to the meter so finding the
underwater cave was easy. Getting in was another matter. They would
have to call for an underwater ship or worse, go in there themselves.
Indra had already decided he was going in and that there was no time
to waste so while they were circling the areas from behind to find a
hidden spot, Indra outlined his plan.

The other Rangers were brought up to
date by Perk who snuck out to the other side of the island and, at a
prearranged time, sent an encrypted packet of instructions in a short
transmission burst that the Indra hoped they wouldn't detect. At the
same time Indra & Dheus would be in position to enter the cave
from their underwater hiding spot where they waited in their scuba
gear. After sending the transmission Perk was to get in his ship and
hover out of sight, ready to go to a high position as soon as their
was any suspicious movement. Other Rangers had positioned themselves
on other continents and at several location in space around the
Horizon so the ship had no place to go. The trap was sent. The
priority was to catch the occupant of the vessel for question.

Turns out the trap was unnecessary.
When Indra and Dheus entered the cave. They had to swim but a short
distance to discover a water free underground cavern but there was
nothing there. No alien craft. No emissions of any kind too suggest
that anything had ever been here. Indra was stumped. Dheus was
spooked. Perk was confused.

The next day the rest of the Ranger
corp, all 16 of them, were gathered in the underwater cavern with
Indra, Dheus and Perk and making fun of them.

“Space travel is getting to Indra. He
is seeing shining objects emerge and disappear into the ocean” said
Kimpa with smirk.

“We saw it too” said Dheus &
Perk simultaneously

“You too would believe anything
anyone told you and would see it too given how inebriated you guys
keep yourselves, dabbling in the local cults. Had any Soma lately and
get lost?” Orph exclaimed with a hand gesture suggesting these
three Rangers had lost their minds.

Soma was a mildly toxic brew from the
Vedic regions which caused hallucinations and “spiritual
experiences” or so claimed it's adherents. Dheus, Perk and even
Indra had consumed this drug and had claimed to have visionary
experiences. Indra even disapeared for a while in the Vedic Mountains
and returned a different, more dangerously effective man. No one
understood why and Indra never said anything. When asked about what
he experienced in those mountains for seven years. He would just
shrug and say “I was roaming around aimlessly”.

The jokes continued as the Rangers
fanned out and examined this large, almost mile long, cavern. Rangers
were nothing if not through. Any mistake of procedure could result in
a court martial and not 1, not 2 but 3 Rangers had called them in so
they had to investigate every inch of that empty cavern.

“You know what. Guys. Come here.
Check this out.” Hunna was out in the Northern part of the cavern
using close ranger sonar equipment on the cavern floor and walls.

“What is it” Orph called out

“It's not that I have something...
its more like that I have too much of nothing being different”

“What do you mean” Indra's voice
came out over the comm. Some of the other Rangers were beginning to
move towards Hunna.

“I mean that there is no variation in
the ground scans. As if our sonar was being blocked in a very
specific way to show us a very specific image. Normally crust varies
in thickness but not anywhere in this cave or on this island. It's
picture perfect. Like a textbook. It's almost as if...”

The ground shook. Hunna looked up in
horror.

A shiver of fear went through the
Rangers. They were in an underground base. Probably at it's entrance.
If a large ship came through they would all be burnt to a crisp.

Then the proud Rangers of Tara did
something quite unbecoming of them. They ran like frightened school
children towards the South side of the cavern. Towards the waterhole
that would get them out of there. Less than half of them made it as
the floor withdrew leaving nothing but an empty space. Dheus managed
to jump and catch hold of the edge of a ledge further down from where
the floor had suddenly withdrawn from.

The Rangers that had made it listened
in horror as their teammates screams faded into the distance. Then
the rushing air as if something large was coming up through the
tunnel. A very long tunnel.

After a few minutes a gold and silver
object the size of 10 of the Rangers ships emerged from the tunnel
and entered the water hole and out the cave through it's underwater
exit. It didn't seem to notice the Rangers in the water at the holes
edge.

“There's a stairway on the side.”
Indra's pained voice over the helmet coms broke everyone out of their
shock. Lets move now” Indra jumped out of the water hole the
Rangers had taken cover in and dropped down over the edge of the
tunnel right onto a ledge running along it's side, a couple of meters
from the edge, and started running towards Dheus who was beckoning to
them.. at the top of a staircase that seemed to disappear into ta
hole in the wall.

Perk sighed with relief. He didn't
think Dheus had made it but he must have just caught the ledge and
pulled himself up. He had to remember to treat him to something for
surviving that. Maybe a couple of the local women and some Soma.

“Perk,snap out of it” Indra's voice
came over the helmet com. “Go for back up”

Perk snapped out of his reverie and
jumped back into the water grabbing scuba gear as he went down.

The Rangers entered one at a time and
headed down the stairs. Everyone was now in combat mode. Their hats
has expanded and were now covering their faces both to provide lintel
on their environment and to provide safety through its variety of
technological enhancements.

Right now their visors were amplifying
the light on the staircase so the Rangers could see in the dark as
they made their way through what seemed to be almost three miles of
tunnel going straight down.

The enemy, which is how all Rangers
were seeing their targets by now, clearly hadn't noticed 9 Rangers
fall into their midst or they didn't care because there was no
reaction. When they got to the bottom they understood why. The tunnel
continued out horizontally into the distance. The unlucky Rangers
bodies were splattered all over the floor which was a meter below the
rest of the tunnel. One body was identifiable as Huna as pieces of
the sonar equipment was still attached to him but no one went out to
look. They had to remain hidden. But they looked at their former
teammates glumly and shared a few stories about them while they
scouted the area.

Indra, being the Captain of the Rangers
began to take stock. He had 7 Rangers left including himself. Perk
was outside, presumably calling for backup from Tarran High Command
which could take up to a day to get here so they were on their own
for now.

“OK. were going to do down this
tunnel. Dheus and Apo with me. We'll take the right side of the
tunnel. Zora, Zawa and Desu take the left side. Find what cover you
can if another vessel approaches. Theraq, I want you to hide out in
this area and use shortwave to communicate with Perk when he gets
back. Maintain radio silence in our direction. If we don't return in
12 hours return to base and report on what happened.

Yes sir.

The Rangers fell into their assign
positions and began to trek down the tunnel at each end, leaving more
than enough room for any vessel to pass through and hoping they
wouldn't be detected if they lay flat in the corner if one did come
by. They didn't have camouflage suits. It's not like they couldn't
get them if they wanted to it's just that Rangers never needed that
sort cover till now.

Indra could tell from the lack of
comments that the Rangers were still in shock from this discovery and
losing so many of their teammates in such a senseless way. With no
honor or glory to speak of. Of course, they would all lie and said
they died in battle against a formidable enemy. The Rangers were an
independent unit that took an excessive amount of risk and thus took
care of each other like family... and pretty much no one else. But
who would argue with the only advanced people on this planet. They
answered only to Tarran High Command. Not even the Monarchy could
order them around, though the Rangers would make themselves available
to the Monarchy if requested. They were like celebrities even to the
Rangers. Tarran High Command didn't care what they did as long as
their missions were accomplished. And that's what the Rangers did.
They accomplished mission and this was now a mission. Indra felt
pride well up in his chest for his little group of commandos. This
might be their finest hour. A noble death. Time to find out what they
have have in store.

“

OK. Enough chit chat. Lets move out”
Indra commanded

“Yeah I want to kick some alien, or
whatever or whoever they are's, butt” Dheus said with a hint of
rage.

“No firing except on my command”
Indra barked using his command voice

“Understood.” Dheus said with a
sigh and the Rangers began their trek down the tunnel.

Quotes

"Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it. It will turn to gold. Resurrection will be now. Every moment, a new beauty." - Rumi

"God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that." - Joseph Campbell

"Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced, and today we think this more than ever and are just as wrong as all previous ages that thought so. How often have we not seen the truth condemned! It is sad but unfortunately true that man learns nothing from history." - Carl Jung

"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." - George Washington

“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” - Dalai Lama

“Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought! Why do you stay in prison. When the door is so wide open?” ― Rumi